Safety upgrades planned on Corning's East Pulteney Street

Steps may soon be taken to slow traffic and increase pedestrian safety on a busy portion of East Pulteney Street.

Jeffery Smithjsmith@the-leader.com

CORNING | Steps may soon be taken to slow traffic and increase pedestrian safety on a busy portion of East Pulteney Street.

The City Council recently applied for a $480,000 state Department of Transportation grant.

Corning City Manager Mark Ryckman said the city expects to learn if it received the DOT grant in mid-to-late December. The work would likely be done next summer.

"If we receive the funding, I think this project would make significant improvements to the way traffic flows on East Pulteney Street and improve pedestrian safety," Ryckman said.

The project would involve changes to driving lanes as well as the installation of signage, raised medians and landscaping on East Pulteney between Centerway and Warren Street. The area is near the Corning Museum of Glass and a Corning Inc. office building and parking garage.

If the grant is secured, the city would receive $480,000 from the state DOT and Corning Enterprises would commit $120,000, the required 20 percent local match on the $600,000 project, Ryckman said.

Marie McKee, president of the Corning Museum of Glass, has expressed her support.

"This is an important project that can help ensure the safety of the more than 400,000 visitors that come to CMoG each year," McKee wrote in a letter to Corning Mayor Rich Negri. "The majority of these visitors arrive by car or motorcoach, park in the museum's parking lot, and then cross Pulteney to visit the museum."

Tom Tranter, president of Corning Enterprises, said if the grant is secured, work on East Pulteney Street would not begin until the replacement of the Patterson Bridge, now underway, is completed.

The Patterson Bridge is expected to reopen in May 2014. While the bridge is closed, traffic on Pulteney Street is expected to greatly increase.

Tranter said Corning Inc. recently completed a traffic study on the heavily used section of East Pulteney Street that showed increasing pedestrian safety has been a longstanding need.

"I have personally observed countless near-misses and accidents at the intersection of Baker and Pulteney streets, as well as Pulteney Street and Centerway," Cook said. "I have observed many close calls with tourists and motorists."

Other local officials, including Negri and Coleen Fabrizi, Gaffer District executive director, have also spoken in favor of the project.